14.1 Helena, Mother of Constantine the Great

Genghis Khan's daughters are shadowy figures: we don't know exactly how many there were or what all of their names were, but historians have pieced together bits and pieces of a story. Enough to know that Genghis valued his daughters highly and they played an essential role in his strategy. An army-on-the-move needs someone to rule the lands they've already conquered, and the Great Khan's daughters were born for that. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Threads as @herhalfofhistory. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexander the Great conquered much of the known-to-him world in lightning speed. But he probably couldn't have done it without the support of his mother, Olympias, who served as queen, regent, and many other roles. Her name was dragged through the mud by ancient writers who struggled with the idea of a powerful woman. That means it is hard to sort out the truth from the slander, but this is an attempt to do so. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Threads as @herhalfofhistory. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Constantine the Great had a long list of accomplishments, including making Europe Christian for centuries to come. But he didn't do it alone. He had a good mom. This is the story of Helena, a girl from a low-class background who rose to be the most important woman in the empire. And she had a lot to do with making Europe Christian too. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a very long time, Santa was a single man. His wife occasionally peeped out of the historical record, but not often. Until a host of magazine writers in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s decided that enough was enough. Mrs. Claus appeared with an astonishingly feminist stance on who was doing the real work of Christmas. (Hint: It wasn't Santa.) The closing music is by Clavier Clavier, available at Pixabay. I have a new shop full of merchandise just in time for the holidays. Please help support the show by visiting herhalfofhistory.com and clicking on the Store link. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am currently on break preparing Series 14, The Woman Behind the Man. For today, I am bringing you an interview I did a few months ago with Shea LaFountaine of the History Fix podcast. If you haven’t tuned into her show, you should give it a try! She and I connected over the surprisingly interesting history of laundry, but she has at the time of this recording, 86 other episodes on subjects that vary from the history of the Nazca Lines, to the Mona Lisa, childbirth, Pocahontas, the Paris Catacombs. There’s definitely something for everyone in the History Fix podcast, including for those of you listening to this in real time, the history of Thanksgiving. ‘Tis the season. Check out Shea's other episodes on historyfixpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The voters have spoken! The topic of Series 14 will be: The Woman Behind the Man. I’ll be looking at women across the ages who had a hand (sometimes a major hand) in the success of some very well-known men. I’m hoping you’ll have heard of the men: I’m choosing the blockbusters. But I suspect the women you have not heard of. Most of them anyway. The research has already begun, but if you know of a woman who should be included, please get in touch! Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I make no comment on the current US election because this is a history podcast. But the entire concept of a woman running a country with even the semblance of an election involved is a recent phenomenon, historically speaking. We’re not even at a century yet. We’re not even at three quarters of a century yet. This episode will give you the rundown on women who have done it, from Sri Lanka to Iceland. Then I turn to women who served in the parliament/Congress in various countries, and finally women as mayors, state senators, and even one all-female city government. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout history and around the globe, women have routinely squeezed, bound, crushed, tweezed, poisoned, pricked, and stretched various portions of their anatomy, sometimes with permanent ramifications, sometimes with excruciating agony, all in the name of beauty. Why was beauty so important? There's no perfect answer, but I explain five theories: Darwinian Evolution To Catch a Man (economically) Outer Beauty Meant Inner Beauty Peer Pressure from Other Women For Herself Alone All of those elements were present well before the 20th century, and while economics did shift dramatically for many women in the past 100 years, did anything else really change? Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of the episodes in this series have been about shaping the female body in the name of beauty. But there is at least one major reshaping that has nothing to do with beauty and everything to do with survival. Breast cancer was known to the ancient Egyptians and nearly every culture since, but for most of that time there was no effective treatment. The early modern period saw a growing recognition that the tumor or maybe the whole breast needed to go: a terrifying treatment plan in an age that didn't know much about anesthesia and nothing at all about germ theory. Science got better before feminism did, but celebrities in the 1970s began to break the stigma and the silence about this sadly common disease. It is also time to vote on the topic of series 14! Make your voice heard on the website at herhalfofhistory.com. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and history proves it: blackened teeth, modified skull shapes, extended necks, lip plates, and piercings of various body parts. All of these have been considered the height of beauty, and women went to great lengths to achieve it. This week's episode gives the details. It is also time to vote on the topic of series 14! Make your voice heard on the website at herhalfofhistory.com. Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee. Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content. Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows. Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices